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Show fl - . I -. c . ... . . .... . -. - ( ' t, 1' tr Joel C: ?."r Z -r'O ! w jv-t -r- v. - -" -jrrunivnjfurur - "-' J (CIIAPTCa XL Continued.) It was then that GabrUTmaSe up his mini that he would act alone. He knew the old Echoolhouse in which the league was to be organized, as well as he knew his own ho'ne. It had formerly been called the :ia3y Dale Mala academy, and Its reputation, before the war, had gone far and wide. Gabriel had spent many a harpy hour there, and some that were memorably unpleasant. Among the thinjra that Gabriel remembered remem-bered was the fact that the space under the stairway the buildings had two stories was boarded up so as to form a large closet, which had been used as a reformatory for refractory pupils, and this was one reason why Gabriel remembered re-membered It so welL j The building had been abandoned by the whites during the war. At the close of the war it was turned over to the negroes, ne-groes, who established there a flourish lag school. Gabriel thought It best to begin operations ope-rations before the sun went down. He made detour wide enough to- place '. the schoolhouse between him and Shady Dale, so that if by any . chance his movements should attract attention be would ha.ve the appearance : of approaching ap-proaching the building quite by accident acci-dent Under the circumstances, it was perhaps fortunate that he took; this precaution, pre-caution, for When he drew near the schoolhouse the Rev. Jeremiah Tomlln, was standing in the back door flourishing flourish-ing a broom, v "Hello, Jeremiah!" said GaWlel by way of salutation. "Whafs up now?" . "Good-evejiiny Mister Gabe," responded re-sponded the Rev. Jeremiah. "Dey been havin' some plaaterln' done in my chu'eh. sun, an' - we 'lowd we'd hoi' pra'r-meetln here ter-nlght But whar you been, Mr. Gabe?" Inquired the Rev. Jeremiah, craftly changing the subject "Just walking about in the woods and fields," answered Gabriel. . " Twant no use fer ter ax you, sun; you been doln dot sence you wus big nuff ter clime a fence. Ef you wan't wid Miss Nan, yon wus by yo'self. You wus wid Miss Nan dis ve'y day." The Rev. Jeremiah dropped his head to one side, and smiled a knowing smile. "Oh, you needn't be shame un it, suh," the negro went on as the color slowly mounted to Gabriel's face. "I nv said It befo' an' I'll say it ag'ln, and I don't keer who hears me Miss N&a is boun ter make de finest 'Oman in de Lan An' dat ain't all. suh; when I bear (oiks hlnttn dat she swine ter make a match wid Mr. 'Frank' Bethune, sez I, 'Des keep yo eye on Mr. Gabe'; dat tackly what I sex." "Oh, the dickens and Tom Walker!" exclaimed Gabriel Impatiently; "who's been talking of the affairs of Miss Dor-rington Dor-rington in that way?" "Why, putty nigh eve'ybody, suh," remarked the Rev. Jeremiah smacking bis lips. "What white folks say in de parlor, you kin allers bear in de kitchen." kitch-en." The Rev. Jeremiah went to work with his broom and made a great pretense of sweeping and moving the benches about The lad followed him In, and looked about him with interest It was the first time he had revisited the old Echoolhouse since he was a boy of 10, and he was pleased to find that there had been few changes. The desk at which he had sat was intact His Initials, In-itials, rudely carved, stared htm In the fae, and ther, too, v'fl' the h - l'e had cut in tl.e f-at. L .U i t -e times arl the jrc:- -,t, t e vl.l f 1 f rlous perr-ect.ve cf var jy t?r .1 r''. and Gabriel coull Ur.: ;T.e that the ! -it who had hacked the cefX bel-ei to another feneration altogether. le Tvect to the blackboard, found a piece of chalk, end wrote in a large, bold hand: "Rev. Jeremiah Tomlln will lecture here tonight beginning at early candlelight" candle-light" , ' , The Rev. Jeremiah, witnessing th Performance, had his curiosity around: "What is de word you uv writ. suMI he inquired, and when GabriH had real it Off. the nero exclaimed: "y1,1 suh! Tou put all dat down, an It d.dn t take you no time; no, suh, not no time. But I might uv speckted it bekase I hear lot r talk about how smart you is on all sides dey all sea so." Nothing was to be gained by remain-, lng, so Gabriel bade the Rev. Jeremiah Jere-miah good-bye. and went toward Shady Dale. When he was weU out of eight the negro approached the blackboard, and. with the most patient curiosity, examined ex-amined the announcement that Gabriel had written. With his forefinger, he traced over the line, then, stepping back a few paces, he viewed the writing critically. crit-ically. Finally be shook his head doubt-fuUy, doubt-fuUy, exclaiming aloud: "Dat's whar deyll git us yes, suh, dat's whar dey sho' will git us." After which he carefully closed the door of the schoolhouse and followed the path leading to Shady Dale. The Rev. Jeremiah had taken a step which it was now too lata to retrace. He was not a vicious negro. In common com-mon with the great majority ot his race, he was eaten up by a desire to make bimself conspicuous. It was natural, therefore, that the Rev. Jeremiah should become the willing tool of the politicians .and adventurers who bad accepted the Implied invitation of the radical leaders of the Republican party to assist in the spoliation of the South.-The South.-The Rev. Jeremiah, one be bad been patted on the back and addressed as Mr. Tomlln by a white man, and that i man a representative of the Government Govern-ment was quite ready to believe anything any-thing he was told by his new friends, and quite as ready to aid them in carrying car-rying out any scheme that their hatred of the South and their natural rapacity could suggest or Invent. - 1 The Rev. Jeremiah, as he went along the path, mumbling out his thoughts, was simply putting together as many sonorous phrases as ha could remember, and storing them away in view of the contingency that be would be called on to address those of his race who might be present at the organization of the Union league. When the day was far spent Nan and i Tasma Tld went wandering out of town in the direction of the schoolhouse. The excuse Nan had given at home was that she wanted to see Tasma Tld's hiding-place. hiding-place. As they passed Tomlin'a they saw the Rev. Jeremiah splitting wood for his wife, who was the cook. At sight of Jeremiah Tasma Tid. laughed so long and so loud that the parson paused In his labors and looked at her. He took off his hat and bowed to Nan, whereupon Tasma Tld raised her band above her head and Indulged in a series of wild gesticulations, which, to the Rev. Jeremiah, were very mysterious and puztllng. , - (Continued tomorrow.) |